UAP or UFOs don’t have to be “aliens” to be weird.
Explanations that are under serious consideration:
1. Time travelers - these are devices or occupied vehicles from our own future doing research. The most accepted theory of time travel right now posits that traveling to the past creates a new timeline so traveling to the past cannot create a paradox that keeps you from ever existing.
2. Interdimensional travelers - similar to number 1, the many universe theory that is suggested by multiple timelines means that there may be a way to travel between parallel universes. The sightings of ships coming out of what appear to be portals in the sky could point to this.
3. Ancient Civilization - it has been suggested that a pre-Younger Dryas civilization may have survived in some way - underground, underwater, lunar, or off world - and is keeping tabs on us.
4. Black projects - of course it could always just be black projects. It can be assumed that we have technology far in advance of what is commonly known by the public and this whole current flap could just be a way of eventually revealing the existence of this technology to the world at large.
Notice that none of these explanations require trips of great distances, little green men, anal probes, or cosmic crystal consciousness.
Numbers 1 & 2 are improbable but could be true;
Number 4 can be ruled out since these thing have been around for millennia.
That leaves number 3 as the most likely. There are many many anomalies that cannot bear close scrutiny.
There is also number 5. They are alien and the reason why we have been told so little for so long is because the aliens do not want it yet - at least 2 or more high placed individuals have said that’s the case.
“The US Navy wants swarms of thousands of small drones
.... Budget documents reveal plans for the Super Swarm project”
https://www.technologyreview.com/2022/10/24/1062039/us-navy-swarms-of-thousands-of-small-drones/